The Girl From the Never Realm (l.garmadon)

Nine

Lloyd's story was unbelievable.

As in, I wasn't sure if I could believe any of it.

According to him, he was a ninja, from a faraway realm called Ninjago.

First thing I couldn't believe: Ninjago was the name of a realm. That seemed a little... uncreative.

Also, the Ice Emperor was a friend of his.

That was the second thing I couldn't believe.

And, the Ice Emperor was a good person. Well actually, he wasn't a person. He was a nindroid— a robot with the ability to act as a ninja and an elemental master.

And that's where I started to doubt Lloyd's sanity.

The Ice Emperor had ruled the Never Realm for decades, but according to Lloyd, he'd just gotten here when he was banished by an evil snake queen. Lloyd claimed that time worked differently here than in his realm. But I just couldn't quite bring myself to believe that the Emperor was built to 'protect those who cannot protect themselves'. Look at what he did to the Formlings! Look at what he did to me, Kataru, Akita... and even Lloyd himself.

Lloyd said that the Ice Emperor's scepter was a magical scroll of something called Forbidden Spinjitzu. I had no idea what the fuck that meant, but apparently it had corrupted the Emperor— whose real name was Zane— and turned him evil. Lloyd couldn't explain exactly how the corruption worked, only that when he'd held the scroll before, it had made him feel ridiculously powerful. Therefore, he thought that the only way to awaken the good Zane inside the evil Ice Emperor was to get the scepter out of his hand.

He told us about his traveling with Akita— how she'd saved him and he'd thought she was just an ordinary wolf, albeit with three tails, and named her Red, only for her to reveal herself to him as a Formling.

He seemed fond of her, despite them having parted ways.

He told us how he broke into the palace and tried to reawaken Zane, mentioning three people I've never heard of called Master Wu, Pixal, and Kai. But when Vex ordered the guards to attack him, he'd tried to reach the scepter, only to be knocked out by an icy blow to the chest. The next thing he knew, he'd woken up shackled in the cell.

Lloyd kept trying to break his icy handcuffs. I heard him tugging on them against the sharp icicles in his cell.

"Save your strength, my friend," Kataru said. "Ten of you couldn't break those chains."

"He knows from experience," I muttered.

"There has to be something we can do!" Lloyd said in exasperation.

"The only way out of this dungeon is if someone lets us out," Kataru said.

I snorted. Fat chance of that ever happening.

Footsteps passed our cells, and I heard Lloyd's cell gate swinging open.

"You?" Lloyd asked whoever had just opened his cell. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm considering doing something foolish," the new voice said. I recognized it as one of the samurai who sometimes gave us meals whenever Vex wasn't around. What was his name... Dimfax? Grimraps? "I'm considering helping you... but I want to know something first."

I sucked in a breath. What could a blizzard samurai possibly want to know?

"Is it true what you said— that the Emperor was once a good man?"

"Yes," Lloyd answered.

"And you think you can awaken him?"

"If I can get that scepter away from him, yes, he'll remember. I know he will."

The sound of chains reached my ears, then Kataru's cell opened. Then mine. When I stepped out, I saw Kataru standing shackle-free. I also saw Lloyd's face for the first time. He was dressed in some weird sort of green garments, with tousled blond hair and shining emerald eyes. The blizzard samurai unlocked my handcuffs, and the Corrupted Ice fell to the floor with a rattling sound.

"I hope you are right," the samurai said. "Because I'm coming over to your side."

Lloyd smiled, and they locked hands. "Welcome to the Resistance."